Paul Verhoeven, Reconsidered (Finally)
Celebrating the misunderstood director of ‘RoboCop,’ ‘Showgirls’
A gang of criminals blast apart the body of a Detroit police officer in RoboCop. Elizabeth Berkley slides around a stage in the maligned Showgirls. Americans, dressed in fascist black leather, descend on hordes of alien bugs in Starship Troopers. If these flashes of cinema are all that come to mind when you hear the name Paul Verhoeven, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. The Dutch director, who has been working in the industry since 1960, just released his first French film, Elle, to critical acclaim. To mark the occasion and look back on a massively misunderstood career, The Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting “Total Verhoeven,” a complete retrospective of the auteur’s work.
We spoke with Dennis Lim and Dan Sullivan, the Film Society programmers who put together “Total Verhoeven,” about curating the retrospective and reconsidering the director’s career.
“I think Paul Verhoeven is one of the most interesting, boldest filmmakers working today,” Dennis Lim, Director of Programming at Film Society, explained. “We have a year-long program that’s divided between festivals and retrospectives, and Paul has been very high on my list for many years now.” With the impending release of Elle, the director’s first work in…
